Search - Various Artists :: New York Thrash (Reis)

Thorough reminisence (which is good, I hope)

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 01/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had this collection back in the day of "cassette only" ROIR releases, and it was my introduction to bands like Bad Brains and Adrenaline O.D., who have the best songs on this mix, as far as I am concerned. This collection also chronicles the earliest phase of the Beastie Boys (definitely, definitely pre-rap).



But aside from introducing some great names in punk rock, this collection also introduced me to the true insanity of punk. I was a beach-combing teenager on the Jersey shore, where you were an out-and-out freak if you didn't think that the Rolling Stones were the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band (and I didn't). I had dabbled a little in some Misfits, some Black Flag (I had played out the soundtrack to _Desperate Teenage Lovedolls_ to death on my turntable--why hasn't THAT one been rereleased too?), some Suicidal, and felt that I had gotten just a glimpse of what was out there. More importantly, I felt that others were privy to what the Jersey shore kept me alienated from. Odd to say, but the stuff I'd listened to so far seemed almost acceptable--my MOM even bopped along to some Misfits riffs.



I don't know how I had gotten a hold of this release from ROIR, or how I even got a ROIR catalog, but I did, and this was one of my first purchases with my paper-route money.



And wow...



Right from the start, The Mad kick in with "I Hate Music," which splits its verses with screeching noise and saxophones (would love to say that it was Zorn bleating his alto there, but no). All the way through False Prophets screeching, "I am the Taxidermist," this collection offered me what I had only previously subconsciously wanted--music that my mom couldn't bop to, music that others would sneer at when I walked along the street with my boom box cranked up. I would take this collection to the beach with me, and while I sunbathed, a halo of empty sand formed around me. (It probably didn't help that Adrenaline O.D.'s "Paul's Not Home" set my head to epileptic tapping.) I had to buy this release four different times, mainly because people would steal it from me. I'd like to think that I was spreading some punk virus in my sleepy shore town, but I really think that some Zep-head would pull it out of the tape deck and chucked it, insulted that there could be some non-Page-influenced sounds in the world.



This disc maintains everything I liked about my early discoveries of punk--poor sound quality, pure energy. Music that would disappear if you pushed your Dolby noise reduction button. I mentioned Adrenaline O.D. and Bad Brains before, but you'll also find amazing stuff by False Prophets, Undead, Even Worse (whose "Emptying the Madhouse" is also one of the best tracks on this collection), and The Mad.



So get this disc, and then get the soundtrack to _Desperate Teenage Lovedolls_ (don't worry, I haven't seen the movie either), then the soundtrack to _Return of the Living Dead_ (AND watch the movie--punk chicks stripping in graveyards!) and then play them all with your ear up against the speaker before retiring to watch _Urgh! A Music War_ or _Repo Man_. Then you'll know what the life of a shut-in punk in hostile territory felt like.

"

New York Thrash! (not trash)

Irie Man | Quogue, The Hamptons,U.S.A. | 01/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I gave this collection a 5 star.This is some old stuff but this is the way it was in the early 80's.Some of the recordings are just a little fuzzy but thses bands didn't have a ton of cash to pay for the high cost of recording in those days. Bands like the Bad Brains,Kraut,The Beastie Boys(no rap here!),The False Prophets,which believe it or not is still around,and Much more keep this album alive.Good punk and definitely a collectors item for all you punksters."